Secrets in the Ice (2020–…): Season 1, Episode 5 - Island of Arctic Cannibals - full transcript
Three graves are discovered on the frozen beach of an uninhabited Arctic island, and the mummified corpses inside may answer a centuries-old mystery of an expedition that was literally consumed by the cannibalistic insanity of its...
♪♪
Narrator:
Could a frozen body found
on the himalayas'
killer mountain
be the long lost brother
of mountaineering legend
reinhold messner?
They only found partial remains.
Most significantly,
they found a foot inside a boot.
When something goes
wrong on a mountain
and life is lost,
questions pour
into everyone's mind.
You know,
"what happened?"
new evidence cracks open
an old
franklin expedition mystery.
Did fights break out,
did the crew mutiny,
or did their madness
lead to something far worse?
♪♪
And photographic evidence
reveals a doomed arctic mission.
♪♪
To be completely stranded
on a frozen,
deserted arctic island,
never knowing
if you'll be rescued,
would've been
a terrifying thought.
♪♪
These are
the strangest mysteries,
trapped in the coldest places.
Lost relics,
forgotten treasures,
dark secrets,
locked in their icy tombs
for ages.
But now as ice melts
around the world,
their stories
will finally be exposed.
[ wind whistling ]
♪♪
The western edge
of the himalayas.
On a frigid peak known
as killer mountain,
a ghastly sight lies
waiting to be found.
♪♪
This high up in the mountains,
the air is so thin and so cold,
it hurts just to breathe.
[ wind whipping ]
what you have
in a mountain like that
is the combination
of extreme elevation
and technical challenge
and those two things combined
make it a killer mountain.
♪♪
Narrator:
In 2005,
three pakistani
mountain guides stumbled
on a pile of body parts,
covered by scraps of clothing.
♪♪
O'keefe: They only
found partial remains.
Most significantly, they found
a foot inside a boot.
♪♪
With so little of the body left,
it's gonna be a challenge
to figure out
who this poor climber was
and how they died.
Narrator: But, there's a chance
this climber isn't just anyone.
He could be linked
to one of this century's
greatest mountaineers.
♪♪
Rising dramatically
out of the himalayas,
nanga parbat is one of 14 peaks
in the world listed
among the eight-thousanders,
mountains that measure more
than 8,000 meters
above sea level.
♪♪
Clarke: Climbing a mountain
like nanga parbat is...
This is not a trophy.
This is not a weekend effort.
This is a lifetime
of training and preparation.
Narrator: These ultra
challenging mountains
have attracted climbers
for more than a century.
Countless climbers
have lost their lives
trying to summit
killer mountain,
making an identification
of the body found here
a challenge.
Billson:
These remains look old,
like they've been
on the mountain for decades.
Maybe this is a climber
from one of the first
expeditions to the mountain.
♪♪
Narrator:
In the 1930s,
there was a rush of europeans
to be the first to climb
the highest mountains
in the world.
♪♪
Countries were looking for ways
to enhance their image
around the world
and bolster national pride.
Narrator: Determined
to show their dominance,
the nazi regime declared
nanga parbat
the german mountain of destiny.
Throughout the 1930s,
it sent five expeditions
to killer mountain,
most of which were disastrous.
Scores of mountaineers
and their sherpas
lost their lives.
Could this body belong
to a german climber
who died in one of the failed
attempts to climb the mountain?
♪♪
Much of the body is missing,
but there are remnants
of the climber's jacket,
and an intact boot.
♪♪
Narrator: Inspection
of the clothing scraps
shows that the fibers
aren't natural.
They're synthetic.
♪♪
Synthetic fibers weren't used
until the 1960s,
so we know, then,
that these remains
couldn't have been
from the german expeditions.
Narrator: Next, they
turn to the leather boot.
Rose: The leather boot
went out of date around 1980.
So, whoever this was,
they must've disappeared
sometime between the 1960s
and the beginning of the 80s.
♪♪
So we have a window
that narrows our search
and, when we focus
on just those years,
the famous story of one
particular climber stands out.
Narrator:
Reinhold messner is one
of history's
greatest mountaineers,
as he was the first person
to climb
all 14 of the eight-thousanders.
And he managed to do it without
the use of supplemental oxygen.
Clarke: Reinhold messner
is to mountaineering
what michael jordan is
to basketball.
He changed the game.
The way we climb today,
the vision of what is possible,
messner made that happen.
Narrator: But reinhold's legacy
has been marred by a great tragedy,
which turned into one
of the biggest controversies
in mountaineering.
♪♪
In 1970, reinhold
and his brother gunther,
along with 16 other
expedition members,
set out to be the first
to summit nanga parbat
via the rupal face,
one of the tallest
alpine walls on earth.
♪♪
On the morning of June 27th,
the messner brothers left
the rest of the expedition
members behind
and began their ascent
on their own.
♪♪
After a grueling 12-hour climb,
they successfully
reached the summit,
but, by then, it was too dark
to safely make their way back
down to their camp.
♪♪
Reinhold said that he and his
brother spent the first night
on the mountain
in an unplanned bivouac,
[ inhales sharply ] which is
basically a hole in the ground
where you huddle up
and try to survive.
♪♪
But when you climb
into a hole like that,
even though you might be
out of the wind,
your respiratory rate slows,
your circulation is impeded.
♪♪
You're really just digging
a grave for yourself,
not a shelter.
♪♪
Reinhold explains,
the next morning,
that, when they woke up,
gunther was delirious.
Likely altitude sickness.
♪♪
He said they were
no longer capable
of returning to base camp
down the same route
they came up,
so the two decided to descend
the unknown diamir face.
♪♪
Narrator: The diamir face is on
the opposite side of the mountain
and, although it was uncharted,
everyone knew it wasn't
as steep as the rupal face.
♪♪
Clarke: According to reinhold, as
he neared the end of the descent,
he went ahead to scout
for a safe route,
which is a common practice.
However, he lost touch
with his brother
and, when he turned back then,
to reconnect with him,
[ exhales ]
he was gone, vanished.
♪♪
Reinhold believes
that he might've been
swept away in an avalanche.
♪♪
It took reinhold
another two days
before finally
making it to safety.
He lost seven toes and several
fingertips to frostbite.
Narrator:
But reinhold's account
of what happened
on the mountain that day
raised questions in the
mountaineering community.
When something goes wrong
on a mountain and life is lost,
immediately, questions pour
into everyone's mind.
You know, "what happened?"
was this a freak accident
or was it something
more complicated,
in terms of a collection
of decision-making
that led to climber error,
that led to this fatality?
Narrator: Two of reinhold's
fellow expedition members
questioned his decision to leave
his delusional brother behind,
in the first place,
suggesting that it might've been
motivated by a personal goal.
Clarke: Reinhold was known
to be a competitive person.
Understandably,
I don't think it's possible
to have that kind of drive
and accomplishment in life
if there wasn't a real
thirst for performance,
no one had ever ascended
the rupal face
and made a traverse
and gone down the diamir.
It was an ambitious,
reinhold-like goal.
♪♪
Narrator: Reinhold's
two fellow mountaineers
have suggested this goal
was driving his decision
to descend the diamir face.
♪♪
Others have taken
the speculation further,
wondering if he didn't
abandon his brother altogether
at the summit.
♪♪
If these are the remains
of gunther messner,
it would be monumental
because it could prove
that reinhold was telling
the truth all these years.
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: A body found on
killer mountain in the himalayas
could be the remains
of reinhold messner's
brother gunther,
who disappeared on the mountain
while the two were descending
the diamir face
more than 50 years ago.
If it is, it could solve one
of the greatest mysteries
of mountaineering.
♪♪
The remains from 2005 were found
around 14,100 feet in elevation,
which was more or less
1,000 feet below
where reinhold had said
he last saw his brother.
It's entirely possible
that gunther's body
could've been carried,
or slid or moved
the 1,000 feet
down the mountain,
when you take
into consideration the wind,
an avalanche,
and snow collection.
It's a very
volatile environment.
Things change constantly on the
side of a mountain like that.
♪♪
Narrator: Could these remains
belong to gunther messner?
Reinhold is determined
to find out.
♪♪
When he heard
of the 2005 discovery,
he returned immediately,
to see if the remains
were his brother's.
Clarke: Reinhold says that,
as soon as he saw the boot,
he knew that it was
his brother's.
You know, when you're
with a climbing partner,
you're very familiar
with their gear.
When you're climbing
a steep face,
it's not unusual for you to be
staring right at their boots
when they're in front of you.
It's like a signature
on the mountain.
♪♪
Reinhold was certain that these
were the remains of his brother,
so he held a small ceremony
and cremated him,
right there on the mountain,
taking only the boot and a few
toe bones back for verification.
Narrator:
When he returned home,
reinhold sent the bones
to the dna lab.
When the results came back,
they proved what he had
suspected all along.
This is his brother gunther.
♪♪
So, now, we know that gunther
was found in the region
where reinhold said
he had last seen him.
♪♪
Although this discovery
is not conclusive
and won't end all speculation,
it certainly supports
reinhold's claim
that they both descended
the diamir face together.
♪♪
Any climber's mind and,
obviously, in messner's mind,
this thing that you love to do
is so dangerous
and it's a real struggle,
I think,
for climbers, for mountaineers,
because you love the thing,
but sometimes it kills
the people you love
and it's very, very difficult
to reconcile that.
♪♪
We won't ever really know
exactly what happened that day,
but we do know two things.
One, that those remains
belonged to gunther
and two, that it was
a real tragedy.
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: On the windswept
tundra of the remote canadian arctic,
a stunning new discovery
might open up a mystery
that has eluded searchers
for over 170 years.
♪♪
Bellinger: The arctic is
vast, cold, and inhospitable.
It's a beautiful place
to look at,
but a pretty deadly place to be.
♪♪
Narrator: On beechey
island, north of baffin island,
searchers made
a grisly discovery.
♪♪
This is an uninhabited island
in the middle of nowhere,
but on this one stretch
of beach,
there's three graves sitting
conspicuously on the shore.
♪♪
You don't find graves this far
from any settlement
unless something strange
has happened.
♪♪
This is a story of desperation,
cannibalism,
and two ships vanishing
into the ice.
♪♪
Narrator: Inside the
graves lie the frozen corpses
of three men,
mummified by the cold.
♪♪
Clarke:
These bodies are not inuit.
From the clothes
they're wearing,
we can tell
that they're british,
which means they're a long,
long way from home.
♪♪
Narrator: The mummies may hold
the answer to a centuries-old mystery.
♪♪
In 1845, a british expedition
to find a sea passage from the
atlantic ocean to the pacific,
through the arctic,
set sail from England,
led by captain john franklin.
The mission consisted
of two ships,
hms erebus and hms terror.
They were manned
by 134 crew members.
Macferrin: The ships
set sail in may of 1845.
Their last known location
was passing
by a whaling vessel at July
and then, they disappeared
into the ice
and were never seen again
for 170 years.
♪♪
Narrator: The ships were
eventually found, in 2014 and 2016,
but no one knows what happened
to the crew members themselves.
♪♪
What happened
to the franklin expedition
is arguably one of the great
mysteries of arctic exploration.
♪♪
Irving:
The erebus and the terror were
among the most modern ships
of their era.
They were equipped for a journey
that would last
at least three years
and their crew
was highly experienced.
♪♪
Macferrin: The big question is
what happened to these ships?
They set sail full of supplies.
What went so horribly wrong?
♪♪
Narrator: The excavation of the
graves on beechey island in 1984
provided possible clues
to the fate of the expedition.
♪♪
The graves are marked
with the men's names...
John torrington,
william braine,
and john hartnell.
All three were crew members
of the franklin expedition.
Macferrin: These men died in
the first winter of the expedition,
just a few months in.
Due to the extreme cold
in this area,
these bodies were
very well-preserved.
♪♪
Anthropologist owen beattie
exhumed the body
of john torrington
and ordered
a multitude of tests.
♪♪
Rose: Autopsies of the bodies
can tell us an enormous amount
about conditions on the ship
before the men died.
The bodies of these men
might unlock clues
to what happened
to the entire expedition.
♪♪
Narrator:
It's the toxicology results
that pique beattie's interest.
The report showed
abnormally high levels
of lead in his system.
♪♪
With those high levels
of lead in their system,
lead poisoning is
a potential cause of death.
One of the symptoms
of lead poisoning is
severely impaired
cognitive functions.
To the rest of the crew,
it would've looked like madness.
♪♪
Did fights break out,
did the crew mutiny,
or did their madness lead
to something far worse?
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: The discovery of
high quantities of lead found
in three mummified bodies
from the franklin expedition
is causing some to question
whether or not the crew
fell victim to lead poisoning.
It was known that the ships
at the time
used food tins soldered
with lead.
♪♪
Clarke: Lead poisoning can
cause multiple symptoms.
As the brain deteriorates,
it leads to increases
in nervous
or aggressive behavior,
confusion,
and, eventually, death.
♪♪
Narrator: To investigate
the theory further,
researchers turn
to king william island,
more than 400 miles
to the southwest.
It's here that they found
scattered body parts
of even more crew members.
Why had they left their ships?
On the northern tip
of the island,
underneath a large stone cairn,
a letter was discovered
by search parties
of the 19th century.
It was written by officers
on April 25, 1848,
explaining that both ships
had become trapped in the ice
about 15 miles off the coast
and the remaining
crew members had no choice
but to abandon the ships
and try their luck on foot.
♪♪
Macferrin: This expedition
wasn't well-equipped
for overland travel
in the arctic.
They were hauling enormous loads
and they had to travel
hundreds of miles
to reach the nearest
camp or settlement.
That's even if they knew which
direction they needed to go.
♪♪
Rose: These men
on king william island
took a huge risk, trying
to walk out of the arctic.
Were they critically
short of supplies
or did lead-induced madness
affect their decision-making?
♪♪
Narrator:
As archeologists studied
the remains found
on king william island,
they made some
shocking discoveries...
Strange markings on the tips
of some arm and leg bones.
Rose: The marks on the
bones aren't from a fire.
They aren't from a medical
procedure, either,
and they didn't happen
during burial.
They're from something
much more disturbing.
♪♪
Narrator:
The marks were made by knives.
♪♪
One of the bones
was deliberately broken,
bone marrow was removed.
♪♪
Narrator:
It appears as if at least some
of the franklin crew members
found on king william island
resorted to cannibalism
to survive.
Were they simply starving,
or had lead-induced madness
taken hold of the crew?
It's not until 2013 that
the theory is put to the test.
♪♪
Ron martin,
an analytical chemist
with western university
in canada,
analyzed bone fragments
from several crew members
and found that they
had experienced
consistent lead exposure
throughout their entire lives,
with no spike
during the expedition.
♪♪
Rose: This makes
it highly unlikely
they went mad or died
from lead poisoning.
So, now, what exactly
happened here?
How did this expedition come
to such a terrible end?
♪♪
Narrator: The answer may lie in
where the ships were eventually found,
which was a far cry
from where they were abandoned.
♪♪
From a note left by the crew
on king william island,
we know that those ships
were stuck in the ice
for a full two years,
just northwest of the island.
♪♪
Narrator: But, strangely,
the ships weren't found
anywhere near there.
In 2014, hms erebus was found
about 100 miles south,
off the coast
of the adelaide peninsula;
and, two years later,
hms terror was found
in terror bay.
♪♪
The ships were found
by a multi-partner expedition
led by parks canada underwater
archeologist ryan harris,
who scanned the sea floor
for six years,
searching for traces
of the wrecks.
♪♪
Archeologists were surprised
to find them so far
from where they were
abandoned in the ice
up by the northern tip
of king william island.
♪♪
Some have posed the theory
that the boats floated
down there on their own
when the ice
eventually broke up.
♪♪
Clarke: I think there are
some holes in the theory.
The interior of the ships were
found in pretty good condition.
Dinner plates were still
neatly stacked on the shelves,
bottles lined the racks.
There's no significant
damage to the ships.
♪♪
Narrator: When the arctic
ice breaks up in the spring,
it's a violent,
aggressive event.
If the ships were unmanned,
they would show signs of damage.
You'd think the ships
would be in worse shape,
but they weren't.
Both of them were found
in perfect condition.
♪♪
Narrator:
It begs the question...
Did the remaining crew
reboard the ships
after the ice broke up
and sail themselves?
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: Determined
to crack the mystery
of what happened
to the franklin expedition,
archeologists dig into records
from an american
search expedition
that took place in 1879.
The u.S. Expedition members
spoke with an inuk man
named puhtoorak,
who said he had visited
the erebus
while it was locked in the ice
west of adelaide peninsula.
♪♪
He said he saw open tins
of food in the cabin,
the sails had been set,
and the deck swept of snow.
He witnessed a gangplank
leading from the deck
of the ship to land,
and footsteps in the snow,
and found a large, deceased crew
member in one of the bunks.
The next year, he came back.
He said the ship had sunk.
♪♪
Puhtoorak's eyewitness report
corroborates the theory
that the boats were remanned
and sailed south.
♪♪
So far, archeologists from the
parks canada expedition
have excavated 400 artifacts
from the ships,
but there are still thousands
to sift through.
At some point, they hope
to be able to piece together
the whole story of what happened
to the infamous
franklin expedition.
♪♪
♪♪
Buried deep in the permafrost
of russia's northern
taymyr peninsula,
an ancient secret lies in wait
that could change
everything we know
about the history
of this continent.
♪♪
When you stand here
in this pristine wilderness,
you get the sense that this
landscape hasn't changed
for tens of thousands of years.
It's like looking straight
back to another time.
♪♪
Narrator:
In 2012,
an 11-year-old-boy was walking
his dogs on the beach
when he saw something sticking
out of the cliffside.
When he moved closer,
he saw giant bones locked
in the permafrost.
♪♪
These weren't just any bones.
They were mammoth bones.
It turned out to be one
of the best preserved
mammoths on the planet.
♪♪
Bellinger: It would be
exciting at any age, but, at 11?
You could really believe
you had found the remains
of some kind of ancient
monster or something.
[ wind whipping ]
narrator: He ran
back to tell his parents,
who immediately notified
a group of scientists working
at the local weather station.
♪♪
It took the team of scientists
an entire week
to extract the frozen bones
from the cliff.
They had to use steam
to melt the permafrost.
♪♪
And hack them out of the soil
with axes and picks.
♪♪
Irving: They didn't
just find bones.
They were fragments
of fur, flesh.
Even some of the animal's organs
were still attached
to the carcass,
all of it perfectly preserved.
♪♪
Narrator: The remains
are identified as male
and they include the entire
right half of the body,
weighing half a tonne.
♪♪
It turns out this was
the best-preserved
woolly mammoth found in the
area for over 100 years.
♪♪
But that wasn't even
the most incredible part
of the discovery.
♪♪
Narrator: There are dozens of
unusual markings, dents, and punctures
on the animal's rib bones,
its shoulder,
and tusk.
♪♪
When you see markings like this,
you know there's a good chance
that something out of the
ordinary happened here.
♪♪
These kinds of injuries
seem to indicate
that it might have met
a particularly violent end.
♪♪
Narrator: But what could've
caused these distinctive markings
and led to the death
of this giant ice age mammal?
The most obvious answer...
Cave lions.
Cave lions roamed throughout
eurasia and north america
between 10,000
and 700,000 years ago.
♪♪
Rose: These prehistoric cats
were far larger than modern lions.
They were one of the most
ferocious predatory mammals
the earth has ever seen.
♪♪
Irving: Cave lions
were top predators.
They would've eaten anything
they could get their paws on...
Giant deer, woolly rhinos,
and, of course, mammoths.
♪♪
Narrator:
Did a group of cave lions
attack this woolly mammoth
and tear it apart?
♪♪
With a large-cat attack,
you'd expect to see claw marks
all over the body and the torso,
while the bites would've
been mainly directed
at the nose and the throat.
♪♪
Big cats have been known
to have eaten ribs
or other, smaller bones
of their prey,
but it isn't typically
what they did.
Their teeth just simply
weren't made for it.
♪♪
The markings on the bones
are actually quite precise
in appearance
and at seemingly
regular intervals,
so it doesn't look like the
evidence you'd expect to see,
if the bones had been
chewed or gnawed at.
♪♪
Narrator: If this wasn't
the work of cave lions,
what else could've killed
this enormous beast?
♪♪
Researchers continue
to examine the remains
and discover an intriguing
wound to the skull.
♪♪
Researchers find an anomaly
in part of the cheek.
There's an unusual hole
that they want
to get a better look at.
♪♪
Narrator: They wonder if this
wound could've been caused
by a direct collision
with something.
♪♪
This mammoth was a young male.
We know that modern
elephants compete
for supremacy of a herd
over other males,
with battles, that include
forehead-to-forehead jousting.
♪♪
Narrator: Could the mammoth have
lost a battle fighting for dominance?
♪♪
Irving:
This hole seems too small
to have been caused
by another mammoth tusk.
You would expect it to leave
a larger, more ragged injury.
♪♪
Narrator: If it wasn't another
mammoth, what caused this wound?
♪♪
The object would've had
to have enough force
to penetrate the bone
without shattering.
♪♪
Scientists examining
the skeleton estimated
that the point of entry
for this injury
would've been
about five feet off the ground,
which matches up pretty well
with the shoulder height
of an adult human.
♪♪
Humans and mammoths did coexist
for a long period of time.
♪♪
There's evidence
that humans used
all parts of the mammoth...
Furs, bones, and tusks...
For clothing and shelter
and other purposes.
♪♪
Narrator: Could it be that
some ancient human hunters
killed this giant mammoth?
♪♪
There's a problem
with this, though.
When scientists radiocarbon
date the mammoths remains,
they make
a surprising discovery.
This mammoth is
45,000 years old.
But humans aren't believed
to have arrived in the arctic
until as early
as 35,000 years ago.
This mammoth is
10,000 years older than that.
Narrator: If this mammoth was
the victim of early human hunters,
it will change everything
we thought we knew
about human migration
to the arctic.
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: On an icy
peninsula in northern russia,
researchers have unearthed
a woolly mammoth skeleton
that they think might have been
killed by human hunters.
♪♪
They look to the wounds
on its shoulder blades
to test their theory.
♪♪
One of the markings looked like
it could be the result
of a powerful blow that has gone
right through the shoulder
and almost completely perforated
the base of the shoulder blade.
♪♪
An adult male woolly mammoth
would've stood over 10 feet tall
and weighed around six tonnes.
Were early hunters even capable
of bringing down
such a large beast?
♪♪
If hunters today wanted
to take down an elephant,
they would target
the major arteries,
to try and create
devastating bleeding.
The injuries on the mammoth
seem like they could be
consistent with that.
♪♪
Bellinger: This kind of hunting
would've been extremely dangerous.
There would've been serious risk
of getting trampled,
or gored by its giant tusks.
♪♪
Rose: When the
mammoth finally went down,
a heavy blow to the head
could've finished it off.
That would account
for the wound in the skull.
♪♪
Narrator: Scientists
return to the skull
and discover a second wound,
a small hole,
hidden in the jugal bone.
They perform a ct scan of the
bone, to produce a 3-d model,
and the answer reveals itself.
The indentation
matches the shape
of the tip of a stone spear.
♪♪
It's not a smoking gun,
but it certainly
strengthens the theory
that humans must have
arrived in the arctic
10,000 years earlier
than previously thought.
♪♪
♪♪
Between the arctic ocean
and the greenland sea,
on a small, treeless,
uninhabited island,
a strange discovery
may unlock a mystery
that's gripped the world
of exploration
for more than a century.
♪♪
This really is a remote
and an untouched area,
miles and miles of barely
explored shoreline,
until you spot
this one beach, in particular.
♪♪
There are objects scattered
all over the beach,
centered around what appears
to be one large ruin.
♪♪
Narrator: On the far
north shore of virgo bay,
in the svalbard archipelago,
north of the arctic circle,
the remnants of strange wooden
structures cover the beach.
♪♪
Macferrin: The ruins in the center of
this beach have these curves in them.
It reminds you of something
like a giant old boat
or the arches of a church
that have been flattened
on the beach.
Narrator: Could it be the rotting
hull of a ship that ran aground?
♪♪
But there are no signs of a deck
or any of the metal pieces
that you would expect
on a ship of that size.
♪♪
O'keefe: If this was a
vessel, it would've have had
a large central spine, a keel,
and we don't see that here.
This isn't the remains
of a boat.
It's more likely
some kind of structure.
♪♪
When you look at these ruins,
you have to wonder
if this was the center
of a village,
or a town hall
or a gathering place.
♪♪
When you take into account
the items that you find
around on the beach,
it could indicate
that this was a settlement,
but it's really hard to tell.
♪♪
O'keefe:
Such a remote location
is a strange place
for a settlement.
What would people
have been doing here?
♪♪
Clarke: Why go to all the
effort of hauling lumber and gear
onto an uninhabited island?
This structure must've had
a special purpose.
What was it for?
♪♪
Narrator: The answer may
lie over 200 miles away,
on remote white island,
where, in 1930,
a group of seal hunters
made a perplexing discovery.
♪♪
Macferrin: White island
is usually inaccessible.
It's locked in by sea ice
year-round.
But in 1930,
the ice broke up enough
where seal hunting ships
could come in and resupply
for fresh water.
♪♪
As the seal hunters were
gathering water from the stream,
one of them spotted something
popping out of the ground.
It was an aluminum lid.
♪♪
Obviously, the hunters had
to find out more,
so they worked
their way up the stream
and they found something even
stranger buried in the snow.
♪♪
Macferrin: Sticking out of
the snow was the tip of a boat.
The seal hunters found books,
a barometer,
other supplies there.
Just a few dozen feet away
were boots, trousers,
and a jacket.
♪♪
Narrator: Buried
beneath the ice and snow,
they find human remains.
♪♪
It was just a pair of legs
and half a torso
and the body showed signs
that it had been eaten.
It would've been
quite the shock to find.
♪♪
Narrator: The hunters examine
the bite marks on the remains.
They appear to be
from a large animal.
♪♪
Considering that they
were this far north
and, given the size
of the bite marks,
the only animal
that could've done this
would've been a polar bear.
♪♪
The big question for the seal
hunters would've been,
"who was this man and how
did he come to be deserted
and eaten by a polar bear
on white island?"
♪♪
Narrator: As the hunters dig
the rest of the boat out of the ice,
they make another
stunning discovery.
♪♪
Near the frozen wreckage
of the boat,
leaning up against a rock,
the hunters found
another skeleton.
♪♪
Inside the jacket,
they found initials...
Narrator:
S.A.
Could these remains solve
a long-forgotten mystery?
♪♪
At the turn of the 20th century,
countries across the globe
were racing to be the first
to the north pole.
One expedition was led
by swedish engineer
and polar aeronaut
solomon August andrée.
♪♪
These expeditions were seen
as heroically brave
and highly patriotic.
In 1896,
the swedish powers that be
funded andrée's expedition to be
the first to the north pole,
using an airship.
♪♪
These explorers were inventive.
The problem with trying
to get to the north pole
by boat or by sled
is that the sea ice
is constantly shifting,
making the terrain
extraordinarily treacherous.
Andrée thought that,
if you can't get there
by land or sea,
then you should go by air,
in a hot air balloon
or an airship,
which really was
an outlandish idea.
♪♪
Macferrin: To go by
air carries extreme risks.
You have to be extremely light,
very few supplies.
You can make good time,
but you're also at the mercy
of every arctic wind and storm
that comes in your path.
♪♪
Clarke:
In 1897,
andrée and his two companions
launched their balloon.
They were carrying with them
a collection of carrier pigeons
that they used to send messages
of their progress
and well-being.
And, after three days,
one of these pigeons
was received by a ship
and the message?
"all is well."
that was the last
anyone ever heard
of andrée and his balloon.
♪♪
For years, people wondered
what had become
of solomon August andrée
and his balloon mission
to the north pole.
♪♪
Narrator: If this is
solomon August andrée,
what went so wrong
as to leave him here,
dead, on a deserted island?
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: After human remains
are found on remote white island,
some wonder if this is the body
of long lost adventurer
solomon August andrée.
♪♪
As the seal hunters
explored the island,
they made a critical discovery.
♪♪
The camera.
The film inside?
Still intact.
Narrator: When
researchers develop the film,
[ flashbulb explodes ]
they find a series
of amazing photographs
and there's no question anymore.
These are definitely the bodies
of the missing men.
[ flashbulb explodes ]
the first photograph shows
andrée and his team moments
after their balloon
crashed on the ice.
♪♪
Macferrin: The photos they
found are really something
in one of them, the men
are standing over the wreck
of the eagle,
calm and collected,
as if it was just
a balmy summer day.
You'd never know
they were stranded.
♪♪
O'keefe: There are photos of the
men leaving their balloon behind,
pushing their boat,
and even setting up camp
out on the ice.
This is a spectacular
visual record
of what they did
after the balloon crashed.
♪♪
Considering the danger
of the environment, alone,
and the inhospitable weather,
you'd think that would be
enough to break one's spirit
or make this
a treacherous journey.
They had to worry
about polar bears.
There's a photo of them
having shot one out on the ice.
♪♪
The photos confirm that
this was andrée and his team,
but it doesn't tell us anything
about what happened
to the expedition.
♪♪
Many had assumed that andrée's
inadequate testing
of the balloon,
and his insistence on using
a drag-rope method of steering,
may have been what caused
his balloon to go down.
Narrator:
Andrée had a theory
that he could steer
a balloon using sails,
but only if he dragged ropes
behind the balloon,
to slow it enough to allow
the sails to function.
Even during test flights
in sweden,
andrée's drag ropes
would snap, fall off,
getting entangled,
caught in the ground,
and a situation like that
could have
flipped the balloon
and caused immense damage.
♪♪
The swedish society of physics
described andrée's drag-rope
theory as wishful thinking,
but there was so much patriotic
enthusiasm behind the mission,
andrée went ahead with his
doomed attempt, anyway.
♪♪
Narrator: It's likely
that the drag ropes
contributed
to the balloon's crash.
Also, we know
that the team ran into fog.
Fog blocks out the sun
and causes the gas
in the balloon to cool,
resulting in rapid
altitude loss.
♪♪
We know the team
survived the crash
and then walked across the ice
to white island.
Narrator: It's clear that they
must've waited for many weeks
on white island,
hoping to be rescued.
To be completely stranded
on a frozen,
deserted arctic island,
never knowing
if you'll be rescued,
would've been
a terrifying thought.
♪♪
Narrator:
Ultimately, no one came.
♪♪
But how does the discovery
of the remains
of andrée and his team
help us with the remnants
of the structure
over 200 miles away
on danes island?
♪♪
If you tried to launch
this balloon
from mainland sweden,
the trip to the north pole
would've been over twice as far.
Danes island
was an ideal location
to launch such an expedition.
♪♪
Narrator:
Could the lumbar structure
in virgo bay, on danes island,
be andrée's launch site?
♪♪
At first glance, there's nothing
at the virgo bay site
that points to it being
a hot air balloon launch site.
But photos of andrée's
expedition before he launched
confirm that he built a large
shed to house his balloons.
♪♪
O'keefe: In andrée's photos,
we can see the base camp
and it is clearly
on danes island.
This confirms that this exact
beach was his launch site.
♪♪
Over the years,
the beach on danes island
would become the launch site
of many attempts
to reach the north pole,
not just by solomon August.
Narrator: None of the
attempts were successful.
♪♪
Years later, an american,
walter wellman,
launched his own balloon
expedition from danes island
and repurposed some
of the lumber
from the exact same site.
Narrator:
The remains you see today
are from walter wellman's reuse
of solomon August andrée's
original launch site.
The shores of virgo bay
are now a historical site,
paying tribute
to the men who tried
to reach the north pole
in hot air balloons
and lost their lives
in the attempt.
Narrator:
They may have died,
but these daring and ambitious
airship adventurers
certainly showed immense bravery
in their quest
to reach the north pole
in a way no one
had ever done before.
Narrator:
Could a frozen body found
on the himalayas'
killer mountain
be the long lost brother
of mountaineering legend
reinhold messner?
They only found partial remains.
Most significantly,
they found a foot inside a boot.
When something goes
wrong on a mountain
and life is lost,
questions pour
into everyone's mind.
You know,
"what happened?"
new evidence cracks open
an old
franklin expedition mystery.
Did fights break out,
did the crew mutiny,
or did their madness
lead to something far worse?
♪♪
And photographic evidence
reveals a doomed arctic mission.
♪♪
To be completely stranded
on a frozen,
deserted arctic island,
never knowing
if you'll be rescued,
would've been
a terrifying thought.
♪♪
These are
the strangest mysteries,
trapped in the coldest places.
Lost relics,
forgotten treasures,
dark secrets,
locked in their icy tombs
for ages.
But now as ice melts
around the world,
their stories
will finally be exposed.
[ wind whistling ]
♪♪
The western edge
of the himalayas.
On a frigid peak known
as killer mountain,
a ghastly sight lies
waiting to be found.
♪♪
This high up in the mountains,
the air is so thin and so cold,
it hurts just to breathe.
[ wind whipping ]
what you have
in a mountain like that
is the combination
of extreme elevation
and technical challenge
and those two things combined
make it a killer mountain.
♪♪
Narrator:
In 2005,
three pakistani
mountain guides stumbled
on a pile of body parts,
covered by scraps of clothing.
♪♪
O'keefe: They only
found partial remains.
Most significantly, they found
a foot inside a boot.
♪♪
With so little of the body left,
it's gonna be a challenge
to figure out
who this poor climber was
and how they died.
Narrator: But, there's a chance
this climber isn't just anyone.
He could be linked
to one of this century's
greatest mountaineers.
♪♪
Rising dramatically
out of the himalayas,
nanga parbat is one of 14 peaks
in the world listed
among the eight-thousanders,
mountains that measure more
than 8,000 meters
above sea level.
♪♪
Clarke: Climbing a mountain
like nanga parbat is...
This is not a trophy.
This is not a weekend effort.
This is a lifetime
of training and preparation.
Narrator: These ultra
challenging mountains
have attracted climbers
for more than a century.
Countless climbers
have lost their lives
trying to summit
killer mountain,
making an identification
of the body found here
a challenge.
Billson:
These remains look old,
like they've been
on the mountain for decades.
Maybe this is a climber
from one of the first
expeditions to the mountain.
♪♪
Narrator:
In the 1930s,
there was a rush of europeans
to be the first to climb
the highest mountains
in the world.
♪♪
Countries were looking for ways
to enhance their image
around the world
and bolster national pride.
Narrator: Determined
to show their dominance,
the nazi regime declared
nanga parbat
the german mountain of destiny.
Throughout the 1930s,
it sent five expeditions
to killer mountain,
most of which were disastrous.
Scores of mountaineers
and their sherpas
lost their lives.
Could this body belong
to a german climber
who died in one of the failed
attempts to climb the mountain?
♪♪
Much of the body is missing,
but there are remnants
of the climber's jacket,
and an intact boot.
♪♪
Narrator: Inspection
of the clothing scraps
shows that the fibers
aren't natural.
They're synthetic.
♪♪
Synthetic fibers weren't used
until the 1960s,
so we know, then,
that these remains
couldn't have been
from the german expeditions.
Narrator: Next, they
turn to the leather boot.
Rose: The leather boot
went out of date around 1980.
So, whoever this was,
they must've disappeared
sometime between the 1960s
and the beginning of the 80s.
♪♪
So we have a window
that narrows our search
and, when we focus
on just those years,
the famous story of one
particular climber stands out.
Narrator:
Reinhold messner is one
of history's
greatest mountaineers,
as he was the first person
to climb
all 14 of the eight-thousanders.
And he managed to do it without
the use of supplemental oxygen.
Clarke: Reinhold messner
is to mountaineering
what michael jordan is
to basketball.
He changed the game.
The way we climb today,
the vision of what is possible,
messner made that happen.
Narrator: But reinhold's legacy
has been marred by a great tragedy,
which turned into one
of the biggest controversies
in mountaineering.
♪♪
In 1970, reinhold
and his brother gunther,
along with 16 other
expedition members,
set out to be the first
to summit nanga parbat
via the rupal face,
one of the tallest
alpine walls on earth.
♪♪
On the morning of June 27th,
the messner brothers left
the rest of the expedition
members behind
and began their ascent
on their own.
♪♪
After a grueling 12-hour climb,
they successfully
reached the summit,
but, by then, it was too dark
to safely make their way back
down to their camp.
♪♪
Reinhold said that he and his
brother spent the first night
on the mountain
in an unplanned bivouac,
[ inhales sharply ] which is
basically a hole in the ground
where you huddle up
and try to survive.
♪♪
But when you climb
into a hole like that,
even though you might be
out of the wind,
your respiratory rate slows,
your circulation is impeded.
♪♪
You're really just digging
a grave for yourself,
not a shelter.
♪♪
Reinhold explains,
the next morning,
that, when they woke up,
gunther was delirious.
Likely altitude sickness.
♪♪
He said they were
no longer capable
of returning to base camp
down the same route
they came up,
so the two decided to descend
the unknown diamir face.
♪♪
Narrator: The diamir face is on
the opposite side of the mountain
and, although it was uncharted,
everyone knew it wasn't
as steep as the rupal face.
♪♪
Clarke: According to reinhold, as
he neared the end of the descent,
he went ahead to scout
for a safe route,
which is a common practice.
However, he lost touch
with his brother
and, when he turned back then,
to reconnect with him,
[ exhales ]
he was gone, vanished.
♪♪
Reinhold believes
that he might've been
swept away in an avalanche.
♪♪
It took reinhold
another two days
before finally
making it to safety.
He lost seven toes and several
fingertips to frostbite.
Narrator:
But reinhold's account
of what happened
on the mountain that day
raised questions in the
mountaineering community.
When something goes wrong
on a mountain and life is lost,
immediately, questions pour
into everyone's mind.
You know, "what happened?"
was this a freak accident
or was it something
more complicated,
in terms of a collection
of decision-making
that led to climber error,
that led to this fatality?
Narrator: Two of reinhold's
fellow expedition members
questioned his decision to leave
his delusional brother behind,
in the first place,
suggesting that it might've been
motivated by a personal goal.
Clarke: Reinhold was known
to be a competitive person.
Understandably,
I don't think it's possible
to have that kind of drive
and accomplishment in life
if there wasn't a real
thirst for performance,
no one had ever ascended
the rupal face
and made a traverse
and gone down the diamir.
It was an ambitious,
reinhold-like goal.
♪♪
Narrator: Reinhold's
two fellow mountaineers
have suggested this goal
was driving his decision
to descend the diamir face.
♪♪
Others have taken
the speculation further,
wondering if he didn't
abandon his brother altogether
at the summit.
♪♪
If these are the remains
of gunther messner,
it would be monumental
because it could prove
that reinhold was telling
the truth all these years.
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: A body found on
killer mountain in the himalayas
could be the remains
of reinhold messner's
brother gunther,
who disappeared on the mountain
while the two were descending
the diamir face
more than 50 years ago.
If it is, it could solve one
of the greatest mysteries
of mountaineering.
♪♪
The remains from 2005 were found
around 14,100 feet in elevation,
which was more or less
1,000 feet below
where reinhold had said
he last saw his brother.
It's entirely possible
that gunther's body
could've been carried,
or slid or moved
the 1,000 feet
down the mountain,
when you take
into consideration the wind,
an avalanche,
and snow collection.
It's a very
volatile environment.
Things change constantly on the
side of a mountain like that.
♪♪
Narrator: Could these remains
belong to gunther messner?
Reinhold is determined
to find out.
♪♪
When he heard
of the 2005 discovery,
he returned immediately,
to see if the remains
were his brother's.
Clarke: Reinhold says that,
as soon as he saw the boot,
he knew that it was
his brother's.
You know, when you're
with a climbing partner,
you're very familiar
with their gear.
When you're climbing
a steep face,
it's not unusual for you to be
staring right at their boots
when they're in front of you.
It's like a signature
on the mountain.
♪♪
Reinhold was certain that these
were the remains of his brother,
so he held a small ceremony
and cremated him,
right there on the mountain,
taking only the boot and a few
toe bones back for verification.
Narrator:
When he returned home,
reinhold sent the bones
to the dna lab.
When the results came back,
they proved what he had
suspected all along.
This is his brother gunther.
♪♪
So, now, we know that gunther
was found in the region
where reinhold said
he had last seen him.
♪♪
Although this discovery
is not conclusive
and won't end all speculation,
it certainly supports
reinhold's claim
that they both descended
the diamir face together.
♪♪
Any climber's mind and,
obviously, in messner's mind,
this thing that you love to do
is so dangerous
and it's a real struggle,
I think,
for climbers, for mountaineers,
because you love the thing,
but sometimes it kills
the people you love
and it's very, very difficult
to reconcile that.
♪♪
We won't ever really know
exactly what happened that day,
but we do know two things.
One, that those remains
belonged to gunther
and two, that it was
a real tragedy.
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: On the windswept
tundra of the remote canadian arctic,
a stunning new discovery
might open up a mystery
that has eluded searchers
for over 170 years.
♪♪
Bellinger: The arctic is
vast, cold, and inhospitable.
It's a beautiful place
to look at,
but a pretty deadly place to be.
♪♪
Narrator: On beechey
island, north of baffin island,
searchers made
a grisly discovery.
♪♪
This is an uninhabited island
in the middle of nowhere,
but on this one stretch
of beach,
there's three graves sitting
conspicuously on the shore.
♪♪
You don't find graves this far
from any settlement
unless something strange
has happened.
♪♪
This is a story of desperation,
cannibalism,
and two ships vanishing
into the ice.
♪♪
Narrator: Inside the
graves lie the frozen corpses
of three men,
mummified by the cold.
♪♪
Clarke:
These bodies are not inuit.
From the clothes
they're wearing,
we can tell
that they're british,
which means they're a long,
long way from home.
♪♪
Narrator: The mummies may hold
the answer to a centuries-old mystery.
♪♪
In 1845, a british expedition
to find a sea passage from the
atlantic ocean to the pacific,
through the arctic,
set sail from England,
led by captain john franklin.
The mission consisted
of two ships,
hms erebus and hms terror.
They were manned
by 134 crew members.
Macferrin: The ships
set sail in may of 1845.
Their last known location
was passing
by a whaling vessel at July
and then, they disappeared
into the ice
and were never seen again
for 170 years.
♪♪
Narrator: The ships were
eventually found, in 2014 and 2016,
but no one knows what happened
to the crew members themselves.
♪♪
What happened
to the franklin expedition
is arguably one of the great
mysteries of arctic exploration.
♪♪
Irving:
The erebus and the terror were
among the most modern ships
of their era.
They were equipped for a journey
that would last
at least three years
and their crew
was highly experienced.
♪♪
Macferrin: The big question is
what happened to these ships?
They set sail full of supplies.
What went so horribly wrong?
♪♪
Narrator: The excavation of the
graves on beechey island in 1984
provided possible clues
to the fate of the expedition.
♪♪
The graves are marked
with the men's names...
John torrington,
william braine,
and john hartnell.
All three were crew members
of the franklin expedition.
Macferrin: These men died in
the first winter of the expedition,
just a few months in.
Due to the extreme cold
in this area,
these bodies were
very well-preserved.
♪♪
Anthropologist owen beattie
exhumed the body
of john torrington
and ordered
a multitude of tests.
♪♪
Rose: Autopsies of the bodies
can tell us an enormous amount
about conditions on the ship
before the men died.
The bodies of these men
might unlock clues
to what happened
to the entire expedition.
♪♪
Narrator:
It's the toxicology results
that pique beattie's interest.
The report showed
abnormally high levels
of lead in his system.
♪♪
With those high levels
of lead in their system,
lead poisoning is
a potential cause of death.
One of the symptoms
of lead poisoning is
severely impaired
cognitive functions.
To the rest of the crew,
it would've looked like madness.
♪♪
Did fights break out,
did the crew mutiny,
or did their madness lead
to something far worse?
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: The discovery of
high quantities of lead found
in three mummified bodies
from the franklin expedition
is causing some to question
whether or not the crew
fell victim to lead poisoning.
It was known that the ships
at the time
used food tins soldered
with lead.
♪♪
Clarke: Lead poisoning can
cause multiple symptoms.
As the brain deteriorates,
it leads to increases
in nervous
or aggressive behavior,
confusion,
and, eventually, death.
♪♪
Narrator: To investigate
the theory further,
researchers turn
to king william island,
more than 400 miles
to the southwest.
It's here that they found
scattered body parts
of even more crew members.
Why had they left their ships?
On the northern tip
of the island,
underneath a large stone cairn,
a letter was discovered
by search parties
of the 19th century.
It was written by officers
on April 25, 1848,
explaining that both ships
had become trapped in the ice
about 15 miles off the coast
and the remaining
crew members had no choice
but to abandon the ships
and try their luck on foot.
♪♪
Macferrin: This expedition
wasn't well-equipped
for overland travel
in the arctic.
They were hauling enormous loads
and they had to travel
hundreds of miles
to reach the nearest
camp or settlement.
That's even if they knew which
direction they needed to go.
♪♪
Rose: These men
on king william island
took a huge risk, trying
to walk out of the arctic.
Were they critically
short of supplies
or did lead-induced madness
affect their decision-making?
♪♪
Narrator:
As archeologists studied
the remains found
on king william island,
they made some
shocking discoveries...
Strange markings on the tips
of some arm and leg bones.
Rose: The marks on the
bones aren't from a fire.
They aren't from a medical
procedure, either,
and they didn't happen
during burial.
They're from something
much more disturbing.
♪♪
Narrator:
The marks were made by knives.
♪♪
One of the bones
was deliberately broken,
bone marrow was removed.
♪♪
Narrator:
It appears as if at least some
of the franklin crew members
found on king william island
resorted to cannibalism
to survive.
Were they simply starving,
or had lead-induced madness
taken hold of the crew?
It's not until 2013 that
the theory is put to the test.
♪♪
Ron martin,
an analytical chemist
with western university
in canada,
analyzed bone fragments
from several crew members
and found that they
had experienced
consistent lead exposure
throughout their entire lives,
with no spike
during the expedition.
♪♪
Rose: This makes
it highly unlikely
they went mad or died
from lead poisoning.
So, now, what exactly
happened here?
How did this expedition come
to such a terrible end?
♪♪
Narrator: The answer may lie in
where the ships were eventually found,
which was a far cry
from where they were abandoned.
♪♪
From a note left by the crew
on king william island,
we know that those ships
were stuck in the ice
for a full two years,
just northwest of the island.
♪♪
Narrator: But, strangely,
the ships weren't found
anywhere near there.
In 2014, hms erebus was found
about 100 miles south,
off the coast
of the adelaide peninsula;
and, two years later,
hms terror was found
in terror bay.
♪♪
The ships were found
by a multi-partner expedition
led by parks canada underwater
archeologist ryan harris,
who scanned the sea floor
for six years,
searching for traces
of the wrecks.
♪♪
Archeologists were surprised
to find them so far
from where they were
abandoned in the ice
up by the northern tip
of king william island.
♪♪
Some have posed the theory
that the boats floated
down there on their own
when the ice
eventually broke up.
♪♪
Clarke: I think there are
some holes in the theory.
The interior of the ships were
found in pretty good condition.
Dinner plates were still
neatly stacked on the shelves,
bottles lined the racks.
There's no significant
damage to the ships.
♪♪
Narrator: When the arctic
ice breaks up in the spring,
it's a violent,
aggressive event.
If the ships were unmanned,
they would show signs of damage.
You'd think the ships
would be in worse shape,
but they weren't.
Both of them were found
in perfect condition.
♪♪
Narrator:
It begs the question...
Did the remaining crew
reboard the ships
after the ice broke up
and sail themselves?
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: Determined
to crack the mystery
of what happened
to the franklin expedition,
archeologists dig into records
from an american
search expedition
that took place in 1879.
The u.S. Expedition members
spoke with an inuk man
named puhtoorak,
who said he had visited
the erebus
while it was locked in the ice
west of adelaide peninsula.
♪♪
He said he saw open tins
of food in the cabin,
the sails had been set,
and the deck swept of snow.
He witnessed a gangplank
leading from the deck
of the ship to land,
and footsteps in the snow,
and found a large, deceased crew
member in one of the bunks.
The next year, he came back.
He said the ship had sunk.
♪♪
Puhtoorak's eyewitness report
corroborates the theory
that the boats were remanned
and sailed south.
♪♪
So far, archeologists from the
parks canada expedition
have excavated 400 artifacts
from the ships,
but there are still thousands
to sift through.
At some point, they hope
to be able to piece together
the whole story of what happened
to the infamous
franklin expedition.
♪♪
♪♪
Buried deep in the permafrost
of russia's northern
taymyr peninsula,
an ancient secret lies in wait
that could change
everything we know
about the history
of this continent.
♪♪
When you stand here
in this pristine wilderness,
you get the sense that this
landscape hasn't changed
for tens of thousands of years.
It's like looking straight
back to another time.
♪♪
Narrator:
In 2012,
an 11-year-old-boy was walking
his dogs on the beach
when he saw something sticking
out of the cliffside.
When he moved closer,
he saw giant bones locked
in the permafrost.
♪♪
These weren't just any bones.
They were mammoth bones.
It turned out to be one
of the best preserved
mammoths on the planet.
♪♪
Bellinger: It would be
exciting at any age, but, at 11?
You could really believe
you had found the remains
of some kind of ancient
monster or something.
[ wind whipping ]
narrator: He ran
back to tell his parents,
who immediately notified
a group of scientists working
at the local weather station.
♪♪
It took the team of scientists
an entire week
to extract the frozen bones
from the cliff.
They had to use steam
to melt the permafrost.
♪♪
And hack them out of the soil
with axes and picks.
♪♪
Irving: They didn't
just find bones.
They were fragments
of fur, flesh.
Even some of the animal's organs
were still attached
to the carcass,
all of it perfectly preserved.
♪♪
Narrator: The remains
are identified as male
and they include the entire
right half of the body,
weighing half a tonne.
♪♪
It turns out this was
the best-preserved
woolly mammoth found in the
area for over 100 years.
♪♪
But that wasn't even
the most incredible part
of the discovery.
♪♪
Narrator: There are dozens of
unusual markings, dents, and punctures
on the animal's rib bones,
its shoulder,
and tusk.
♪♪
When you see markings like this,
you know there's a good chance
that something out of the
ordinary happened here.
♪♪
These kinds of injuries
seem to indicate
that it might have met
a particularly violent end.
♪♪
Narrator: But what could've
caused these distinctive markings
and led to the death
of this giant ice age mammal?
The most obvious answer...
Cave lions.
Cave lions roamed throughout
eurasia and north america
between 10,000
and 700,000 years ago.
♪♪
Rose: These prehistoric cats
were far larger than modern lions.
They were one of the most
ferocious predatory mammals
the earth has ever seen.
♪♪
Irving: Cave lions
were top predators.
They would've eaten anything
they could get their paws on...
Giant deer, woolly rhinos,
and, of course, mammoths.
♪♪
Narrator:
Did a group of cave lions
attack this woolly mammoth
and tear it apart?
♪♪
With a large-cat attack,
you'd expect to see claw marks
all over the body and the torso,
while the bites would've
been mainly directed
at the nose and the throat.
♪♪
Big cats have been known
to have eaten ribs
or other, smaller bones
of their prey,
but it isn't typically
what they did.
Their teeth just simply
weren't made for it.
♪♪
The markings on the bones
are actually quite precise
in appearance
and at seemingly
regular intervals,
so it doesn't look like the
evidence you'd expect to see,
if the bones had been
chewed or gnawed at.
♪♪
Narrator: If this wasn't
the work of cave lions,
what else could've killed
this enormous beast?
♪♪
Researchers continue
to examine the remains
and discover an intriguing
wound to the skull.
♪♪
Researchers find an anomaly
in part of the cheek.
There's an unusual hole
that they want
to get a better look at.
♪♪
Narrator: They wonder if this
wound could've been caused
by a direct collision
with something.
♪♪
This mammoth was a young male.
We know that modern
elephants compete
for supremacy of a herd
over other males,
with battles, that include
forehead-to-forehead jousting.
♪♪
Narrator: Could the mammoth have
lost a battle fighting for dominance?
♪♪
Irving:
This hole seems too small
to have been caused
by another mammoth tusk.
You would expect it to leave
a larger, more ragged injury.
♪♪
Narrator: If it wasn't another
mammoth, what caused this wound?
♪♪
The object would've had
to have enough force
to penetrate the bone
without shattering.
♪♪
Scientists examining
the skeleton estimated
that the point of entry
for this injury
would've been
about five feet off the ground,
which matches up pretty well
with the shoulder height
of an adult human.
♪♪
Humans and mammoths did coexist
for a long period of time.
♪♪
There's evidence
that humans used
all parts of the mammoth...
Furs, bones, and tusks...
For clothing and shelter
and other purposes.
♪♪
Narrator: Could it be that
some ancient human hunters
killed this giant mammoth?
♪♪
There's a problem
with this, though.
When scientists radiocarbon
date the mammoths remains,
they make
a surprising discovery.
This mammoth is
45,000 years old.
But humans aren't believed
to have arrived in the arctic
until as early
as 35,000 years ago.
This mammoth is
10,000 years older than that.
Narrator: If this mammoth was
the victim of early human hunters,
it will change everything
we thought we knew
about human migration
to the arctic.
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: On an icy
peninsula in northern russia,
researchers have unearthed
a woolly mammoth skeleton
that they think might have been
killed by human hunters.
♪♪
They look to the wounds
on its shoulder blades
to test their theory.
♪♪
One of the markings looked like
it could be the result
of a powerful blow that has gone
right through the shoulder
and almost completely perforated
the base of the shoulder blade.
♪♪
An adult male woolly mammoth
would've stood over 10 feet tall
and weighed around six tonnes.
Were early hunters even capable
of bringing down
such a large beast?
♪♪
If hunters today wanted
to take down an elephant,
they would target
the major arteries,
to try and create
devastating bleeding.
The injuries on the mammoth
seem like they could be
consistent with that.
♪♪
Bellinger: This kind of hunting
would've been extremely dangerous.
There would've been serious risk
of getting trampled,
or gored by its giant tusks.
♪♪
Rose: When the
mammoth finally went down,
a heavy blow to the head
could've finished it off.
That would account
for the wound in the skull.
♪♪
Narrator: Scientists
return to the skull
and discover a second wound,
a small hole,
hidden in the jugal bone.
They perform a ct scan of the
bone, to produce a 3-d model,
and the answer reveals itself.
The indentation
matches the shape
of the tip of a stone spear.
♪♪
It's not a smoking gun,
but it certainly
strengthens the theory
that humans must have
arrived in the arctic
10,000 years earlier
than previously thought.
♪♪
♪♪
Between the arctic ocean
and the greenland sea,
on a small, treeless,
uninhabited island,
a strange discovery
may unlock a mystery
that's gripped the world
of exploration
for more than a century.
♪♪
This really is a remote
and an untouched area,
miles and miles of barely
explored shoreline,
until you spot
this one beach, in particular.
♪♪
There are objects scattered
all over the beach,
centered around what appears
to be one large ruin.
♪♪
Narrator: On the far
north shore of virgo bay,
in the svalbard archipelago,
north of the arctic circle,
the remnants of strange wooden
structures cover the beach.
♪♪
Macferrin: The ruins in the center of
this beach have these curves in them.
It reminds you of something
like a giant old boat
or the arches of a church
that have been flattened
on the beach.
Narrator: Could it be the rotting
hull of a ship that ran aground?
♪♪
But there are no signs of a deck
or any of the metal pieces
that you would expect
on a ship of that size.
♪♪
O'keefe: If this was a
vessel, it would've have had
a large central spine, a keel,
and we don't see that here.
This isn't the remains
of a boat.
It's more likely
some kind of structure.
♪♪
When you look at these ruins,
you have to wonder
if this was the center
of a village,
or a town hall
or a gathering place.
♪♪
When you take into account
the items that you find
around on the beach,
it could indicate
that this was a settlement,
but it's really hard to tell.
♪♪
O'keefe:
Such a remote location
is a strange place
for a settlement.
What would people
have been doing here?
♪♪
Clarke: Why go to all the
effort of hauling lumber and gear
onto an uninhabited island?
This structure must've had
a special purpose.
What was it for?
♪♪
Narrator: The answer may
lie over 200 miles away,
on remote white island,
where, in 1930,
a group of seal hunters
made a perplexing discovery.
♪♪
Macferrin: White island
is usually inaccessible.
It's locked in by sea ice
year-round.
But in 1930,
the ice broke up enough
where seal hunting ships
could come in and resupply
for fresh water.
♪♪
As the seal hunters were
gathering water from the stream,
one of them spotted something
popping out of the ground.
It was an aluminum lid.
♪♪
Obviously, the hunters had
to find out more,
so they worked
their way up the stream
and they found something even
stranger buried in the snow.
♪♪
Macferrin: Sticking out of
the snow was the tip of a boat.
The seal hunters found books,
a barometer,
other supplies there.
Just a few dozen feet away
were boots, trousers,
and a jacket.
♪♪
Narrator: Buried
beneath the ice and snow,
they find human remains.
♪♪
It was just a pair of legs
and half a torso
and the body showed signs
that it had been eaten.
It would've been
quite the shock to find.
♪♪
Narrator: The hunters examine
the bite marks on the remains.
They appear to be
from a large animal.
♪♪
Considering that they
were this far north
and, given the size
of the bite marks,
the only animal
that could've done this
would've been a polar bear.
♪♪
The big question for the seal
hunters would've been,
"who was this man and how
did he come to be deserted
and eaten by a polar bear
on white island?"
♪♪
Narrator: As the hunters dig
the rest of the boat out of the ice,
they make another
stunning discovery.
♪♪
Near the frozen wreckage
of the boat,
leaning up against a rock,
the hunters found
another skeleton.
♪♪
Inside the jacket,
they found initials...
Narrator:
S.A.
Could these remains solve
a long-forgotten mystery?
♪♪
At the turn of the 20th century,
countries across the globe
were racing to be the first
to the north pole.
One expedition was led
by swedish engineer
and polar aeronaut
solomon August andrée.
♪♪
These expeditions were seen
as heroically brave
and highly patriotic.
In 1896,
the swedish powers that be
funded andrée's expedition to be
the first to the north pole,
using an airship.
♪♪
These explorers were inventive.
The problem with trying
to get to the north pole
by boat or by sled
is that the sea ice
is constantly shifting,
making the terrain
extraordinarily treacherous.
Andrée thought that,
if you can't get there
by land or sea,
then you should go by air,
in a hot air balloon
or an airship,
which really was
an outlandish idea.
♪♪
Macferrin: To go by
air carries extreme risks.
You have to be extremely light,
very few supplies.
You can make good time,
but you're also at the mercy
of every arctic wind and storm
that comes in your path.
♪♪
Clarke:
In 1897,
andrée and his two companions
launched their balloon.
They were carrying with them
a collection of carrier pigeons
that they used to send messages
of their progress
and well-being.
And, after three days,
one of these pigeons
was received by a ship
and the message?
"all is well."
that was the last
anyone ever heard
of andrée and his balloon.
♪♪
For years, people wondered
what had become
of solomon August andrée
and his balloon mission
to the north pole.
♪♪
Narrator: If this is
solomon August andrée,
what went so wrong
as to leave him here,
dead, on a deserted island?
♪♪
♪♪
Narrator: After human remains
are found on remote white island,
some wonder if this is the body
of long lost adventurer
solomon August andrée.
♪♪
As the seal hunters
explored the island,
they made a critical discovery.
♪♪
The camera.
The film inside?
Still intact.
Narrator: When
researchers develop the film,
[ flashbulb explodes ]
they find a series
of amazing photographs
and there's no question anymore.
These are definitely the bodies
of the missing men.
[ flashbulb explodes ]
the first photograph shows
andrée and his team moments
after their balloon
crashed on the ice.
♪♪
Macferrin: The photos they
found are really something
in one of them, the men
are standing over the wreck
of the eagle,
calm and collected,
as if it was just
a balmy summer day.
You'd never know
they were stranded.
♪♪
O'keefe: There are photos of the
men leaving their balloon behind,
pushing their boat,
and even setting up camp
out on the ice.
This is a spectacular
visual record
of what they did
after the balloon crashed.
♪♪
Considering the danger
of the environment, alone,
and the inhospitable weather,
you'd think that would be
enough to break one's spirit
or make this
a treacherous journey.
They had to worry
about polar bears.
There's a photo of them
having shot one out on the ice.
♪♪
The photos confirm that
this was andrée and his team,
but it doesn't tell us anything
about what happened
to the expedition.
♪♪
Many had assumed that andrée's
inadequate testing
of the balloon,
and his insistence on using
a drag-rope method of steering,
may have been what caused
his balloon to go down.
Narrator:
Andrée had a theory
that he could steer
a balloon using sails,
but only if he dragged ropes
behind the balloon,
to slow it enough to allow
the sails to function.
Even during test flights
in sweden,
andrée's drag ropes
would snap, fall off,
getting entangled,
caught in the ground,
and a situation like that
could have
flipped the balloon
and caused immense damage.
♪♪
The swedish society of physics
described andrée's drag-rope
theory as wishful thinking,
but there was so much patriotic
enthusiasm behind the mission,
andrée went ahead with his
doomed attempt, anyway.
♪♪
Narrator: It's likely
that the drag ropes
contributed
to the balloon's crash.
Also, we know
that the team ran into fog.
Fog blocks out the sun
and causes the gas
in the balloon to cool,
resulting in rapid
altitude loss.
♪♪
We know the team
survived the crash
and then walked across the ice
to white island.
Narrator: It's clear that they
must've waited for many weeks
on white island,
hoping to be rescued.
To be completely stranded
on a frozen,
deserted arctic island,
never knowing
if you'll be rescued,
would've been
a terrifying thought.
♪♪
Narrator:
Ultimately, no one came.
♪♪
But how does the discovery
of the remains
of andrée and his team
help us with the remnants
of the structure
over 200 miles away
on danes island?
♪♪
If you tried to launch
this balloon
from mainland sweden,
the trip to the north pole
would've been over twice as far.
Danes island
was an ideal location
to launch such an expedition.
♪♪
Narrator:
Could the lumbar structure
in virgo bay, on danes island,
be andrée's launch site?
♪♪
At first glance, there's nothing
at the virgo bay site
that points to it being
a hot air balloon launch site.
But photos of andrée's
expedition before he launched
confirm that he built a large
shed to house his balloons.
♪♪
O'keefe: In andrée's photos,
we can see the base camp
and it is clearly
on danes island.
This confirms that this exact
beach was his launch site.
♪♪
Over the years,
the beach on danes island
would become the launch site
of many attempts
to reach the north pole,
not just by solomon August.
Narrator: None of the
attempts were successful.
♪♪
Years later, an american,
walter wellman,
launched his own balloon
expedition from danes island
and repurposed some
of the lumber
from the exact same site.
Narrator:
The remains you see today
are from walter wellman's reuse
of solomon August andrée's
original launch site.
The shores of virgo bay
are now a historical site,
paying tribute
to the men who tried
to reach the north pole
in hot air balloons
and lost their lives
in the attempt.
Narrator:
They may have died,
but these daring and ambitious
airship adventurers
certainly showed immense bravery
in their quest
to reach the north pole
in a way no one
had ever done before.